The summoner's journey is a long, hard path to walk. Having guardians you trust makes all the difference in the world.

Cloud wasn't sure when the fayth released him. At some point he was vaguely aware that he'd fallen to his knees and was hunched in on himself, arms wrapped around him as if to help keep him from exploding. The raw energy pouring through his system was too much for him to handle, too much for anyone to handle. It was like he'd swallowed the whole universe, and now it was trying to expand inside him.

He struggled to hang on to himself, clinging with metaphorical teeth and nails to life. He forgot about his desire to bring the Al Bhed and Spirans together, forgot about his need to prove that he wasn't useless. There was no room in his brain for thought, only a primitive will to survive driving him to fight through the pain.

Slowly, so slowly he'd have screamed in frustration if he hadn't already been screaming in agony, the searing pulse of power began to subside. After some indefinable amount of time, Cloud was able to stop screaming long enough to gasp for breath. Seconds or centuries later awareness of the world outside his skin returned as the pain eased. The air in the Chamber felt blessedly cool against his over-sensitive body.

Cloud forced his eyes open, panting for air and trying to stop the shaking in his body. The fayth had vanished, the Hymn continuing as if nothing had happened, but it had left an invisible mark on Cloud. Deep inside him he could feel something resonating to the Hymn, something very large and very powerful.

He had no idea what had just happened. Surely not all summoners went through this! He'd nearly died, and he still wasn't sure if he'd passed or failed the test. Or if it had been a test at all, and not just the fayth trying to kill him for his presumption.

He tried to get to his feet, and nearly cracked his head open on the floor when his knees gave out on him instead. If he'd thought he was physically exhausted and emotionally drained before he'd entered the temple, it was nothing compared to how he felt right now. He desperately hoped Zack hadn't gone wandering off, because he didn't think he'd make it very far on his own. How long had it been?

After a moment to rest and gather his wits, he managed to half crawl, half drag himself over to the nearest wall. With that for support he somehow made it to his feet, and lurched over to the door. He touched it, and nothing happened. Trembling, he pushed at it with all the strength he had left, and still nothing happened. It remained locked, and there was no other way out.

"You couldn't kill me, so you're going to keep me here until I starve to death?" he cried out, pounding weakly at the door. "Why did you send me here if it was just to die?"

He swayed as power rose abruptly within him. Ghostly feathers brushed against the inside of his skin, making him shiver. A momentary harmony joined the melody of the Hymn, and the whole chamber resonated with it. The door slid open smoothly, as if it had never resisted him at all. Trying not to cry with relief, Cloud staggered out into the larger chamber beyond.

Zack was still there, practicing headshots against the wall with a blitzball that he'd produced from somewhere. He missed the next shot when he caught side of Cloud, his eyes going comically wide. "Cloud! Are you okay? What happened, did it not work?"

Cloud opened his mouth, but nothing emerged past his abused throat but a croak. He shook his head, and that proved to be a mistake. The world spun with the motion, and kept spinning even after he made himself stay still.

Strong arms caught and supported him, lowering him gently until he could sit on the stairs. For the second time that day Cloud realized he could hear Zack talking to him as if from a great distance, sounding concerned. "...kay? Cloud? Hey, answer me! Damn it, what the hell happened in there?"

"I don't know," Cloud croaked, then coughed weakly. Zack grabbed a canteen and unscrewed the cap, holding it to Cloud's lips. Gratefully Cloud gulped down the contents, the cool water helping to ease some of the rawness in his throat from the screaming. "How long was I in there?"

"Eight minutes and thirty-five seconds ," Zack replied, shocking him. "I didn't expect to see you for hours yet. Seph warned me some summoners stay in the chamber for a day or more. Did it refuse you after all?"

"I'm not sure," Cloud said slowly. He pressed a shaking hand against his chest, where it still felt like there was something more inside him than there had been before. "I can't tell if it was testing me, or just mocking me and trying to kill me." He coughed again, and groaned. "Either way, it's over."

Zack brushed his bangs back off his sweaty brow, looking worried. "I think we'd better get you back upstairs. I should've brought a potion or something with me, but most of my equipment is still back in the temple's guest quarters. C'mon."

Cloud tried to find the strength to protest that he couldn't walk yet, but it seemed Zack had other ideas anyway. The guardian slung one of Cloud's arms over his shoulder and wrapped his own arm around Cloud's waist, then hauled him to his feet. In that position most of Cloud's weight was supported by Zack, and all he had to do was stumble along beside the bigger man.

"I know you're not supposed to talk about what happened in there," Zack said, subdued. "And I won't ask. But... do you really think it was trying to kill you? I couldn't hear a thing from out here, but you sure sound half dead."

"Yes. No. I don't know." Cloud rested his head against Zack's shoulder. It was oddly comforting to have the man there next to him, supporting him. Nobody but his mother had ever been this close to him before, and she wasn't a physically affectionate person. Not that she didn't love him, she just didn't show it by touching him. "Still sure you want to be my guardian?"

"Yeah." Zack didn't say anything else, but the conviction in his voice was firm enough that he didn't need to.

The priests were lurking in the vicinity of the main chapel above, ostensibly cleaning or performing other tasks but all of them jumped the moment the door opened and Zack carried Cloud through. They looked first shocked, then smug as they saw the state Cloud was in. It wasn't hard to tell they believed he had failed utterly.

Stung, Cloud somehow found the strength to pull away from Zack and stand on his own. He was still a little unsteady, enough that Zack had to help him with a hand on his shoulder as they descended the stairs, but he managed. How often had he seen that look in the eyes of the people of Nibelheim? They all took every chance they could find to ridicule him and call him a failure, to tell him that he wasn't good enough to be one of them.

There was only one person who wasn't waiting in anticipation of his failure. Seph frowned when he saw them, and strode across the room to meet them. "What happened? Could you not get through the Trial?"

"Nope, we made it through no problem," Zack said. Cloud let his guardian tell the story, since he needed all his strength for walking. "He went into the chamber, then staggered right back out again a few minutes later, looking like he'd been battling Sin for days. Is that normal?"

"No," Seph said, studying him curiously. Cloud flushed, but did his best to ignore it. "No, it's not. Summoners are often drained when they leave the chamber, sometimes even to the point of collapse, but I've never heard of one being injured."

"I told you it was folly." The high priest stepped out of an alcove, scowling at the three of them. "No Al Bhed could ever become a summoner. I only hope you have not so drastically offended the fayth that it will refuse to treat with other apprentice summoners for a time. Let this be a lesson for you, heathen."

The new power inside Cloud stirred, and his own anger rose to match it. A furious sort of restlessness overtook him, and he was seized with the need to do something. Without thinking about what he was doing he turned and stormed out of the temple. "Watch," he snarled back over his shoulder at the priest. "And eat your words."

When he stopped he found himself at the centre of a tiled area just in front of the temple. The mosaic pattern of the stones was the same as the glyph in the chamber of the fayth, and for the briefest instant he thought he could see the little girl standing there, smiling at him. Then the power rose up inside him, a huge feathered beast fighting and clawing to burst free. Cloud thrust a fist into the air, throwing his head back and screaming his defiance of the priests and all their petty prejudices.

Something screamed back at him from high above, and a shaft of pure light speared down through the clouds. Something large and solid burst through after it, spiralling rapidly towards the ground. At the last possible moment it snapped out its massive wings and slowed, landing beside him with a violent thump. It screamed again, the piercing cry of a hunting raptor, wings canted back and head extended to its limit.

Cloud had never seen anything like it, but there could be no doubting what it was. Besaid's aeon, the first milestone in the summoner's journey. It had come to his call, marking him as a true summoner, no matter his race.

He could hear shocked whispers around him, but all his attention was on the aeon. It - she, there was no mistaking her femininity despite the alien nature of her form - cocked her head at him. She trilled softly in the back of her throat, a sound of welcome and apology. "It's okay," he assured it, losing his heart utterly as he stared into her beautiful, too-intelligent eyes. It looked... sad. "I forgive you. I don't know why you did it this way, but it's okay." Hesitantly he reached up and ran his fingers through the feathers just behind her crest. She crooned and lowered her head so he could reach more easily, and he grinned and scratched harder.

"Wow," a soft voice said from just behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Zack hovering a respectful distance away, with all the villagers and priests ranged out much further behind him. "Wow, she's gorgeous. Guess you did it after all, huh? I knew you would." He smiled, and Cloud actually believed that he meant it. "So what's your name, beautiful?" He addressed his last words directly to the aeon, and she chirped at him. Cloud experienced a wash of amusement, and realized it was coming from the aeon. His own feelings echoed hers. It seemed Zack would flirt with anything female, not just pretty Spiran girls.

"Jymavun," he answered for her, the name appearing in his mind. "Her name is Jymavun. You should go," he added, a little shyly. "Someone might need you." He remembered hearing somewhere that only one incarnation of a particular aeon could exist in the world at any given moment. While he kept her here to show off, another summoner elsewhere might be dying.

She made a sound remarkably like a chocobo's wark, then stepped back and fanned her wings. Cloud and Zack hastily got out of the way, and she launched herself into the sky with a powerful thrust of her hind legs. In moments she was gone, faded away into nothing like the spirit she truly was.

"Well," Zack said, and patted his shoulder. "That's that. Nobody can argue that you can't be a summoner, now."

"Yeah," Cloud agreed, still watching the place where Jymavun had disappeared. Deep in his heart he could feel the aeon's power still pulsing, slowly settling into something his body could handle without pain.

His life would never be the same again.

The bonfire crackled and roared, the flames leaping into the night sky. Showers of sparks like a swarm of pyreflies danced and spun around it. Cloud kept well away, wary of the flames and preferring to stay as much out of sight as possible. Standing near the fire would just make him a more visible target.

The bonfire appeared to be the only thing enjoying the celebration. Even the music was lacklustre, as if the players would rather be doing anything else. The Spirans gathered around were subdued, clustered together in tight little knots, whispering among themselves and casting nervous glances at Cloud when they spotted him. He wondered what exactly they thought he was going to do. Summon Jymavun to rain destruction down on them? Raze the temple in a fit of heretic rage?

Not that he wasn't a little more tempted every time he caught one of those sidelong glances.

"This is bullshit."

Cloud jumped, and turned to find that Zack had appeared beside him. For such a big man he was remarkably good at being stealthy, and as far as Cloud could tell, he wasn't even doing it on purpose.

"What is?" he asked, uneasy. He'd known Zack less than a day, but he already knew that the dark, brooding expression the man wore now was unusual. Was Zack mad at him? Had he done something wrong, broken yet another unspoken law of Yevon that he didn't even know about?

"This." Zack gestured at the crowd, his movements short and choppy. "They should be dancing, singing, welcoming you! A new summoner is always something to be celebrated. In Kilika we have a huge party every time someone masters our temple's aeon, and we're not even the start of the journey."

Cloud shrugged. He hadn't expected anything different. They weren't stoning him or chasing him off the island, at least. That had to count as a step in the right direction. "I told you this would happen. Nobody is going to be happy about an Al Bhed summoner. It's only going to get worse from here." He looked away from Zack, and fought to keep his voice casual. "Sure you don't want to change your mind?"

Zack snorted. "Not if Lady Yunalesca herself walked up and asked me to be her guardian." He clapped Cloud on the shoulder, and let his hand rest there, squeezing gently. "This just makes me all the more determined to go with you. If nothing else, somebody's gotta remind you that not all Spirans are prejudiced assholes."

He smiled, and Cloud flushed. He had been starting to feel that way, he realized. But even in Nibelheim there had been a few people who had been kind to him. Tifa, first and foremost. There had been random strangers on the road here who had given him shelter or a ride, Spiran as well as Al Bhed. And now there were Zack and Seph, who championed him as if there was nothing strange about him, as if it was the only choice they could have made.

"Where's Seph?" he asked, reminded of the other man's existence. The enigmatic man had vanished at some point while Cloud was absorbed with Jymavun, and Cloud hadn't seen him since.

"Oh, brooding somewhere, probably." Zack shrugged. "He does that a lot. Don't worry, it's not you. I think this place holds a lot of memories for him, and they're not all good."

Cloud nodded. He knew how that could work, all too well. As long as he knew it wasn't something he'd done to drive Seph away, he would leave the man to his own thoughts.

Looking around at the villagers, he sighed. "How soon do you think I can sneak away? Without offending anyone more than I already do just by existing, I mean." He was already tired of the suspicious, fearful looks. He knew he was going to be seeing a lot more of them before he reached Zanarkand, but that didn't mean he had to voluntarily remain here to be stared at right now.

"Oh, you could probably plead exhaustion any t..."

"Sin!"

Perhaps it was an inbred survival instinct, or perhaps it was just grim experience. Everyone over the age of ten whirled to face the source of the shout, even though most of them shouldn't have been able to hear over the music and roar of the bonfire. They all stood frozen for a long moment, disbelieving.

Rising up out of the ocean behind the temple was a huge, solid mass. Cloud stared at it, baffled by the fact that he couldn't find a head or tail. Then he realized that what he was looking at was just a fin, like the dorsal fins on the dolphins who had followed the ferries. He swallowed hard and shivered. He'd heard stories of the monster all his life, but this was the first time he'd ever actually seen it. It was an honour he'd just as soon have forgone.

Gravity seemed to reverse itself. First small, light things began to float upwards, then larger objects. People started screaming and running for shelter, snatching up children and shoving other people out of the way. Many headed straight for the temple as the sturdiest structure in the village. Cloud heard the sound of breaking branches in the trees, and some of the smaller buildings were starting to tear themselves to pieces. A small child was dragged right off the ground, shrieking, and its mother lunged for it frantically.

"Crusaders, to arms!" called the same deep voice that had cried the warning. Cloud finally spotted Seph standing on the roof of the temple, his hair flying around him like a beautiful silver banner. He showed no signs of panic, only a calm, assured presence. "Gather on the beach, half circle formation. We will repel the fiends from there. Civilians, take shelter in the temple!" He turned and leapt down from the side of the temple that faced the beach, and the moonlight flashed off the long blade of a sword held in his left hand.

Already a swarm of dark shapes were detaching from the fin, flying through the air to land out of sight behind the temple. Cloud heard a screech and a man's battle roar, and he knew Seph had engaged the first of the fiends.

"Anyone who can handle a weapon of any kind, form line behind the Crusaders," Zack shouted, his voice somehow pitched to carry over the chaos, just as Seph's had been. "Fishing spears, nets, slings, I don't care. You!" He pointed at a group of people in matching yellow clothing, who were helping people get to the temple. "Aurochs. Grab your blitzballs and get down there. You should be able to kick hard enough to at least stun them for a minute. Anything that buys the Crusaders time to kill them is worth it!"

The players of the Besaid Aurochs hesitated, looking at each other uncertainly. "Should we oughtta be listenin' to him?" one of them asked hesitantly.

The man in the captain's uniform shrugged. "He sound like he knows what he doin', ya? Better dan doin' nothin'. Aurochs, move out!"

"Cloud, c'mon, we gotta get down there," Zack urged him, tugging at his arm.

Nodding, Cloud followed him around the temple. As he ran he grabbed for the short sword hanging from his belt. He wasn't exactly a trained fighter, but he'd survived the journey here. The sword was one he'd gotten from a fiend along the way, and it was poisoned, which helped a lot.

To his surprise, Zack shook his head and gestured at Cloud's sword. "No, forget about the fiends. Keeping them off your back is my job. You need to summon and try to chase Sin away from the island, or we'll be overwhelmed eventually."

"Chase off Sin?" Cloud's voice squeaked, and he'd have been embarrassed if he wasn't too busy being panicked. "With just the first aeon? Are you crazy?"

"You don't have to kill it, just drive it away," Zack insisted. "Hurry!"

They'd reached the beach, and it was a scene of utter chaos. Crusaders battling Sin scales seemed to be everywhere, and more scales were trying to edge around their flanks. Civilians, including the Aurochs, were holding those ones at bay. Seph was at the head of the battle, long sword flashing and hair swirling around him as he spun and slashed. Scales fell before him in waves, killed before they ever came close enough to attack him.

Cloud closed his eyes to try to concentrate, but he couldn't block out the noise and the smell. People were screaming and shouting, the fiends were voicing inhuman shrieks, and above it all rose Seph's commanding voice back by Zack's shouted orders. The stench of blood and ichor was heavy in the air, like a rotten perfume that made Cloud want to gag. Sin's deadly gravity still pulled at him, threatening to drag him right off his feet.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to ignore it all and reached for the core of power that now lived inside him. He could feel Jymavun resonating with something, as if she was responding to the presence of Sin. Softly, drifting over the clamour of the battlefield, he thought he heard the Hymn of the Fayth. He used that to help him focus, humming along with it under his breath.

Power surged inside him, and once more he thrust his fist up into the air. A beam of light cut through the night sky, and Jymavun fell screaming out of the heavens right behind it.

The world around him seemed to fade away, colours bleeding out and sounds softening as he if he was experiencing everything through a layer of gauze. In contrast both Jymavun and Sin were bright and sharp, looming large in his vision and the only things he could truly focus on. He felt Jymavun's thoughts merge with his own, alien and yet comforting at the same time. She screamed her rage at the monster, and turned her dive into a shallow arc that sent her speeding towards Sin.

Cloud's spirit soared out across the water with Jymavun, marvelling at the sensation of flight as the air rippled over her feathers. She swerved abruptly to dodge a piece of debris, then ducked under another, fighting for every inch she got closer to Sin. The fierce winds pulled at her, trying to suck her into the vortex of destruction that swirled around Sin.

Finally she reached the monster itself. Alternately hovering and darting through the air, she clawed at it and buffeted it with her powerful wings. Though Cloud could see that she was doing damage to the tough hide, Sin seemed oblivious to her efforts. Lurking below the surface of the water, he could just make out the creature's true bulk. It was massive, like a mountain come to life. Cloud despaired. How could he ever hope to beat that? Let alone do so with only the first aeon.

Jymavun backwinged and hovered, power building before her as she concentrated all of her energy. A beam of light so bright it seared Cloud's eyes all the way from shore lanced out, strafing across the side of the monster.

This attack it noticed. With a sound of rage like nothing that could ever come from the throat of something natural, Sin reared up farther out of the water. Too late Cloud and Jymavun saw the tentacle lash out straight towards her.

Jymavun tried to dodge, but Sin was unbelievably fast for something so huge. The tentacle caught her squarely across her body, and the aeon exploded in a shower of pyreflies.

Jerked abruptly back into his own body, Cloud screamed in shared agony. It felt like he was dying, nearly as horrible as when the fayth had poured her power into him. He fell to his knees, clutching at his chest. Frantically he searched inside himself for a trace of that power. Surely it wasn't truly dead? Was it only his own that would suffer the consequences of his rash attack on Sin, or would every summoner lose access to Besaid's aeon?

The sound of screaming nearby reminded him that Sin wasn't the only opponent he had to worry about. He opened his eyes just in time to see a blitzball headed straight for his face at high speed. Cloud yelped and ducked reflexively, but he was too slow to hope to avoid it. Someone flung a hand between him and the ball, catching it neatly an instant before it would have made contact, saving him from a broken nose or worse.

He looked up to see Zack holding the ball in one hand, his giant sword in the other as if it weighed no more than a chocobo feather. "Hey, watch what you're aiming at!" his guardian yelled at two nearby Aurochs. Tossing the ball up, he executed a spinning kick that sent it blazing straight at a Sin scale, hard enough to knock the fiend over. Two more fiends immediately launched themselves at him. Zack got in front of him, wielding his sword with the same careless ease with which he'd handled the blitzball.

Cloud fumbled for his own sword, knowing it was hopeless. Without an aeon to fight Sin, they were surely doomed.

Sin voiced its inhuman roar once more, and the pull of the cyclone increased as if in response. Cloud looked towards the ocean, certain he was about to see his own death crashing down on him.

Instead he saw what had to be an aeon flying high above the water, racing towards Sin like an arrow launched from a crossbow. It was far larger than Jymavun, a mighty dragon to her graceful gryphon. Even from this distance Cloud could feel the power resonating from it. Throbbing in his eardrums he could hear the Hymn of the Fayth, so strong he couldn't even be certain whether the voice was male or female.

A massive wheel spun over its back, and power built so quickly Cloud's head ached with it. Like Jymavun its weapon was a breath attack, a beam of light bright enough to tear the heavens in two. It followed the same path Jymavun's attack had taken, but instead of merely scoring deeper into the monster's flesh it sliced the top of the fin clean off.

Sin screamed in pain and fury, and turned away from the island. Slowly it sank beneath the water once more, and the maelstrom of debris above it began to settle. There were still scales scattered over the beach, but a few ragged cheers were already breaking out among the embattled Crusaders and villagers.

"Look out!"

Something hard hit Cloud from behind, throwing him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. He flailed, thinking that a fiend had somehow gotten past Zack to get at him while he was distracted by the aeon. There was a soft, meaty thud above him, and the coppery tang of blood filled the air. He heard a soft 'oof', and then the weight on him seemed to increase exponentially.

He squirmed, and managed to get his head and arms out from under whatever was on him. When he craned his neck around to look, he found Zack slumped over him, protecting him with his own body. A handful of deadly looking spines protruded from his back, and Cloud could feel something warm and wet dripping down onto his back.

"Zack!" Frantic with worry, Cloud wrenched himself the rest of the way out from beneath his guardian. Zack didn't so much as twitch, out cold. Cloud hoped he was only unconscious. From the looks of it, the spines were only the latest wounds the man had taken.

Movement caught his eyes, and he looked up to find a Sin scale looming over them. Its wings shone with an eerie glow, and its menacing aura was unmistakeable. Cloud groped for his sword, and cursed when he realized it was still trapped under Zack's body. He snatched at the hilt of Zack's sword, but it was literally too heavy for him to lift.

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